Poems to Save Lives
by JYu.Lee
Summary: "He saw red, but that could have very well been the blood dripping down the glass." 1x09 -Anslo Garrick-
1. Chapter 1

**So how was that episode last night, huh?! James Spader was BADASS. haha! I'm jumping up and down for next week's episode. **

**Well this short story is just basically Red's reaction/thoughts during Luli's death because, my dear lord, it was torture to watch. I haven't written in about a year, so bear with me ^**^

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Ressler's screams rang throughout the glass box like a banshee's. Red winced as he cut open the wound further; he knew it had to be done. But there was no morphine, no painkillers in the stash he had hastily grabbed.

_Almost done, Ressler, hang on._

But a second later, the agents' arm dropped and the man was silent.

A centimeter more and the wound was open enough for him to start. He hastily shook his hands of the dripping blood and got to work. He opened the bullet and poured half of the gunpowder onto the needed place. Then, he grabbed the match that was sitting by Ressler's leg and moved the chair away from him out of frustration. Before he could have second thoughts, he found his hand lighting the match and moving towards the leg. There was a quick burst and Red instinctively jumped back. He stared at the smoking wound with an amused expression once he got a glimpse of the finished work.

_Huh, that actually worked._

His personal victory was cut short, however, when there was a thump on the glass door behind him. He spun around. All rational thoughts flung out of his head as he saw Anslo holding the gun to Luli's head. Her eyes swam in panic and fear, parallel to his.

"Ten seconds, Red," Anslo said, staring right into Red's eyes as if he was about to come to some victory. He could very well be right.

"Wait—" Red moved forward as far as the glass would allow him. He so wanted to grab Luli and pull her away, to do something, anything, but he knew this damned box wouldn't allow him to do much.

"Ten." Anslo started counting. "Nine."

"Harold!" Red looked at the assistant director who he would have laughed at for being caught up in a situation like this if he wasn't in need of his actual assistance. "Open the box! Now. Give him the code!"

Luli was forced to kneel. There were tears descending on her cheeks, the cheeks Red had caressed the very night before.

"No," Cooper replied with an apologetic glance.

Red looked once more at Cooper's face before growling in frustration. The man wasn't going to open this door to save one life. So he turned back to Anglo who had gotten down to seven. "Anglo, my people can't help you." _Get your hands off her_. "Cooper can get you in here. Put that gun to his head."

He was down to five.

Anglo laid the gun behind Luli's head as he counted to three and Red panicked. "For once in your life, stop and think about—"

_Ka-Boom._

The gunshot roared in Red's ear and he found himself staring through a glass splattered with blood. His mouth stood agape as he saw Luli's motionless body lie on the ground. Red found he couldn't move. This couldn't be happening, shouldn't be happening. The moments of their times together found themselves surging through his mind and the numbness nearly overtook him. He couldn't look away. He loved the way she used to bring him tea when he woke up from a nightmare, and the way she smelled, and the way she smiled, and the way she talked. His mind went numb as his eyes were transfixed on the beautiful body regretfully covered in blood.

The silence in the room was defining.

Breath by breath, he felt the familiar sense of rage set in. Red glared up at Anslo, whose smug smile just added to the fury that Red was feeling. Anslo's chin was held high and eyes glistening with pride. He saw red, but that could have very well been the blood dripping down the glass. It took everything in his power to not lose control.

_The best thing to do when you feel like losing control is to be occupied. So be occupied in saving Ressler's ass, _Reddington said to himself in his head.

His hands flung the tie covering the agent's mouth out of the way with more force than necessary. He hated the way his hands shook, the way his own power wasn't enough, the way he failed once again, and the way these thoughts were jumbling inside of his head, refusing to give him any sort of worthy result. Red shook his gaze from Ressler.


	2. Chapter 2

**Your reviews (and a mountain of food ^^) made my week_ very_ happy. Thank you so much for that! I hope you guys enjoyed your break (I guess if you're in school, like me) and Thanksgiving! Mine was filled with food and fun haha!**

**So in the spirit of Blacklist day, this week Anslo Garrick Part 2, I wrote up the second part of this dreadful scene, because I thought, why not. Although I don't believe Dembe got shot (you can see his very much alive head in the previews for episode 10). I'm praying he doesn't, because he's such a likable character. **

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Red sat with his back turned towards the glass door where he knew more than a dozen pair of eyes were staring at him. His concentration focused on breathing. In and out. In and out. Red refused to give Anslo the satisfaction of having broken him.

There was a buzz of static from the walkie attached to the vest on the floor before a heavily accented voice spoke. _"The threat is down. I repeat, the threat is down."_

Red didn't even listen to projecting device on the bloody floor. His hands moved to open another patch of clean cloth and carefully replaced the damp maroon one from Ressler's leg.

_Dammit, Donald, did you have to get shot?_

Red moved to see the open wound. It wasn't as bad as before. The bleeding had slowed, but it still didn't look good.

"Red I don't have to explain what happens now, do I?"

The voice of Anslo Garrick made Red turn in his seat. Dembe was force on his knees in front of the door, much like Luli was just minutes before.

And that didn't end well.

"You open the box. Or Dembe dies." His gun was dangerously close to Dembe's head.

There was a familiar aurora surrounding this incredibly dire situation and Red felt frantic as before. He saw Anslo's impatience rolling off him in waves. "Harold." Red looked to the assistance director once more. "Tell him!" He was well aware of the panic that had seeped through his voice, but at this point, he couldn't care less.

Harold Cooper didn't move a muscle.

_Why are you so damn stubborn!_

Red looked at Dembe. His expression was strained but he looked terrifyingly in acceptance. Red could tell what the man was thinking and it made him panic even more. "Wait," he got up. "Ressler knows the code."

"Wait is over, Red. People are dying now."

Red ignored Anslo's voice as he leaned over Ressler, hands on each side of the young man's face. "Ressler." He opened Ressler's eye with his thumb. There was no response. "Ressler!"

"Raymond."

Dembe's voice made it to Red's ears but he ignored that out too. Instead he moved to shake the unconscious man's shoulders.

_Wake up! _

"Ressler!" The sheer panic was clearly evident in Raymond's voice now, and he didn't even notice. Let that world know that Raymond Reddington had a soft spot in his heart, but Dembe was _not_ going to die tonight. "Ressler!"

"Raymond!"

Red turned at the stern voice of his friend using his Christian name. His chest was heaving. Dembe's eyes were calm, completely and utterly opposite of Red's.

"Ours is a friendship forged once in this life. And again in the next." Dembe spoke with a calmness that made Red's heart drop. "Goodbye, my brother."

Red's lower jaw shook but he clamped it shut. He looked at Dembe with such piercing eyes. He knew what that look meant. And he felt helpless as hell.

_You may have accepted the possibility of death, my friend. But I haven't. _

He tore his eyes from Dembe. There must be something he could do, anything! "Harold." Red walked up to the glass, searching the face of Agent Cooper. "Open this box, I'll give you _anything._" If one thing was for sure, he _would_ try everything and anything to keep Dembe alive.

However, Harold Cooper continued to be motionless. He didn't meet Red in the eye.

Red's heart was running a marathon in his chest. He had to save Dembe, _he had to. _After everything they'd been through, after the multiple times Dembe had saved his ass and vice versa, Red wasn't about to let a scum like Anslo Garrick take his life.

Something very familiar reached Red's ears and he looked down at his friend. Dembe was reciting a prayer, a prayer he had heard so many times, so many years ago. He heard it in the many situations when people were faced with death, when people accepted their fate.

_No, Dembe, please. _

Red stared down helplessly for he knew that the will of someone reciting the prayer was stronger than it appeared. There wasn't a way he could talk Dembe into fighting.

_This isn't supposed to happen._

Dembe was repeatedly forced to the ground when he tried to reach eye level with Red. However, Red caught his eyes. In painful seconds, he realized that whatever happened, Dembe deserved far more than a stubborn friend who refused to believe what he believed in.

So reluctantly, Red's own voice was joined along with Dembe's reciting the prayer. His helplessness still raged in his eyes but as he recited the prayer with him, he could tell Dembe was thankful.

_I don't want you to go_.

"Well I'm going to kill him now, aren't I, Red," Anslo's voice shouted, however unnoticed by the praying pair. "Open. The. Box!"

Dembe had stopped praying; only resulting in staring up at his friend. Red, however, kept going, needing the reassurance of the prayer more than the man facing death's door. Red kneeled, never breaking eye contact. His hands were pressed above his head, hands that were aching to reach through the glass barrier and pull the man into safety. His mouth still moved with the words he thought he would never have to say or hear again.

_You are far braver than I, my friend._

As Red looked into Dembe's eyes, all he saw was determination and pride. Red took a shaky breath as he recalled the familiar language the prayer was formed in, and he asked in that language, "Are you ready?"

Dembe looked at Red with eyes softened from friendship. Red knew the answer before Dembe nodded. His eyes searched friend's for what may be the last time, sadness whirling through the orbs.

_Goodbye, brother._

_Bang._


End file.
